Why do we see different constellations at night in summer from those in winter?

Question

Why do different constellations "appear" in our night sky (northern hemisphere) in winter than summer?

Answer 1

The earth orbits the sun once per year. The sun or daylight side of the earth is always pointing inward toward the sun. The night side of the earth is therefore always pointing outward - away from the sun. As the earth swings around the sun, this outward side is oriented in a full 360 degree sweep as the year goes by. In the summer, the outer or night side of the earth is pointed roughly toward the center of our galaxy, which we see as the constellation Sagittarius scattered across the face of the Milky Way. In the winter, we are oriented to look outward at night away from the galactic center, so we see Orion within our arm of the galaxy spiral and Perseus in the next arm outward. In spring, we see out of the galactic plane toward Leo and Virgo, in fall we see out of the galactic plane in the other direction toward Pegasus.

Answer 2

We DON'T see the same stars summer and winter! We are moving in our orbit around the Sun, which makes the Sun appear to move through the stars of the zodiac. We see a slightly different set of constellations each night as a result. On December 21, the Sun appears to be in Sagittarius, and Taurus, directly opposite the Sun, is on the meridian at midnight. On June 21, the Sun is in Taurus, and Sagittarius is on the meridian at midnight.

Answer 3

It's because of the position of the Earth as we revolve around the Sun. Since the Earth also tilts at a different angle to the Sun in each of the seasons the stars "appear" to be at a different angle as well. It also depends upon what location on the Earth you are viewing the stars.

Answer 4

Because as we orbit the sun, we gradually see a little different area of the galaxy night to night. Every 6 months, we have gone 180 degrees in our orbit about the sun, so we're seeing the stars that we couldn't 6 months ago, because they'd be in daylight.

Answer 5

lets make this 2 dimensional.

the earth revolves around the sun, in summer it is left of the sun, in winter it is right of the sun. day is the surface facing towards the sun night the surface facing away from the sun.

so at night, in winter, someone looks right. and in summer at night someone look left. so youre actually looking the total opposite direction.

in the 3d world (reality) its a little more complex, but the same principle applies. night always faces away from the sun, as we orbit the sun, our winter night sky slowly, but certainly rotates out of sight, from our point of view.

Answer 6

Because the sunkeeps on "moving" through the sky. For instance, right now the sun appears to be in the constellation(not sign) of Leo, so nearby constellations such as Orion, Cancer, and Virgo are below the horizon at night.

Answer 7

As the earth orbits the sun, the night side faces different parts of the sky though the year.

Answer 8

Like the first two posters kind of said, we're on the opposite side of the solar system.

Answer 9

Because of the tilt of the Earth's axis.

Answer 10

Because the planet is tilted and its in different places in its oribit around the sun in summer and winter.